In December and January, nurses, rail workers, and ambulance personnel are expected to engage in additional strikes.
As strikes continue across the country, Royal Mail employees, university professors, and sixth-year college employees will strike today over pay issues.
In one of the largest walkouts on the same day, picket lines will be set up at universities, colleges, and Royal Mail centers.
Royal Mail has warned its customers that postal strikes will “hold Christmas ransom”
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents Royal Mail employees, is also preparing strikes for the next month, including on Christmas Eve.
Dave Ward, the organization’s general secretary, stated, “Royal Mail executives risk a Christmas meltdown due to their obstinate refusal to treat its employees with respect.”
Postal workers want to deliver Christmas gifts, he said, but “they will not accept the casualization of their employment without a fight.”
Next month and in January, hundreds of thousands of workers from all sectors of the economy, including nurses, rail workers, and ambulance personnel, are scheduled to go on strike.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned that the upcoming winter will be “difficult” due to the cessation of services due to wage conflicts.
The army is on standby in case it is required to replace duties during winter strikes by NHS employees.
Saffron Cordery, the temporary chief executive officer of NHS Providers, told that if the army or other armed forces were to intervene, they would not be driving ambulances but rather be on the periphery.
The CWU stated that its members will hold the “largest strike demonstration this country has ever seen” in London next Friday.
Royal Mail is “proud to offer the greatest pay and working conditions in our sector” and has encouraged customers to send their Christmas mail early.
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) who teach in 77 sixth-form colleges in England are also on strike over a salary dispute.
Since 2010, according to the union, teachers working in sixth-form institutions have experienced an approximate 20% salary decrease in real terms.
A vote revealed overwhelming support for industrial action.
Dr. Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, stated, “Members engage in strike action with considerable reluctance, but the repercussions of real-terms pay losses are simply too dire for them to continue to bear the situation.”
These cuts are causing a mass exodus from the field.
Following last week’s 48-hour strike, the University and College Union (UCU) is organizing a 24-hour walkout among university personnel and hosting a protest in London.
At 150 universities, UCU members will go on strike.
In a protracted disagreement over poor pay, members of the University of Sheffield International College are on strike for three days, finishing on Wednesday.
According to the union, this is the first-ever strike at a privatized higher education institution.
The RMT union announced last week that rail employees will strike for eight days in December and January.
Mick Lynch, the union’s general secretary, met with Mark Harper, the transport secretary, last week, but no progress has been made in the protracted battle over jobs, wages, and working conditions.
